THE last time when the pair of a young Danish Malewar and a seasoned Karun Nair forged a partnership at the venue, both returned with three-digit scores to their credits. It was the only league match of the 2024-25 season that was played (against Gujarat) at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium in last November. When the duo joined hands once again on opening day of their Ranji Trophy against Mumbai in the semi-final, both had an opportunity to score big. Though none could get to that magical figure, both showed their class and stamped authority milking the visiting bowlers. Getting together at the fall of opener Dhruv Shorey (74; 109b, 9x4) at 3-144, both Malewar (79; 157b, 7x4, 1x6) and Nair (45; 70b, 6x4) looked solid and toyed with the bowling attack.

 

By end of the day, Yash Rathod (47*; 86b, 6x4) and skipper Akshay Wadkar (13*; 35b) were holding the fort with Vidarbha 308-5 when stumps were drawn. Malewar and Nair played some brilliant cuts and well-timed shots on legside. Nair also swept and reverse swept offie Tanush Kotian for fours on a few occasions. After adding 78 for the fourth wicket, Nair got faintest of edges to get out to the combination of stumper Akash Anand and Shivam Dube. Nair asked for DRS that showed a spike. Malewar continued with Rathod, who looked in prime touch and took from where he had left in the quarter-final against Tamil Nadu when he got a hundred. Malewar was beaten by a Mulani delivery that spun enough and rose to take the edge. Earlier after winning the toss, Shorey hit Avasthi for three consecutive fours on first three balls of his fifth over to set the tone.

 

A fierce square cut was followed by one over the slip squadron. The third one was a classic off-drive off the backfoot. Bowling change did the trick for Mumbai. Left-arm seamer Royston Dias got one to skid through and southpaw Atharva Taide did not know when the ball kissed his bat on the way to keeper Anand. Vidarbha made a surprise move sending green horn Parth Rekhade, playing just his second First-Class match, at number three. If his promotion was to tire Mumbai bowlers and take shine off the ball, it worked perfectly for them. Rekhade survived some hostile bowling by speedsters from both ends. Thakur, Avasthi, Dias and Dubey all targeted him with short balls. Finally, Mumbai all-rounder Dube, who looked in the best rhythm of all the medium pacers, removed Rekhade caught at second slip by a diving Suryakumar Yadav who picked the ball centimetres above the grass. Umpires had to confirm whether it was clean catch ... and it turned out to be. But Rekhade had played his part scoring 23 adding 54 runs with Shorey. Talented Malewar started scoring with a pulled four off Thakur. He welcomed left-arm spinner Shams Mulani with a lofted six.

 

On first ball of the bowler’s second over, Malewar danced down the track to hoick it for a maximum. Against the run of play, Shorey got out. Trying to cut Mulani on a ball that rose and turned, the batter got an edge that bounced off wicketkeeper Anand’s glove and skipper Ajinkya Rahane took the ballooned offer at first slip. Shorey batted for 194 minutes and his chanceless knock contained nine hits to the fence. He and Malewar looked very good in the middle putting on 51 runs for the third wicket. Rahane took new ball after 83 overs but the seamers, who could not make any impact with the first new ball, failed again to impress. They tried short balls and one such Dias delivery hit Wadkar on the helmet who went for a hook. On the very next ball Rathod hit a crisp four to signal end of the day. With pitch offering turn (not alarming though) and variable bounce, Vidarbha would like to score as much as they can in the first innings to put pressure on the visitors. 

 

 

IN HIS maiden First-Class season Danish Malewar has crossed the fifty-run mark on six occasions and has converted one of those into a century. The top-order batter is concerned with his conversion rate and that played on his mind when he reached into seventies against Mumbai on Monday. “This has been the trend. I am getting out after getting good starts. I am failing to convert those into big ones. Today also, after reaching fifty, I told myself that this is where I get out ... that was playing into my mind. May be, I got (once again) as I was more conscious about that fact,” said Malewar after the match. “Dhruv (bhai) and I were the set batsmen, at least one of us should have played longer and been there till the end. We would have been happy with the score with a wicket or two less,” he added.